Colorado Sunday | Is there any water out there?
Good Colorado Sunday morning, everyone! I hope yesterday’s forecast for more seasonally tolerable temperatures proved up, you got outside for a little actual sun and you weren’t awakened by the super bright moon beaming in your window.
I honestly don’t mind when the moon shines brightly. I love looking at it as it changes during the month and there’s basically nothing better than the full moon rising from the eastern horizon, or the rare times when I’m out early enough to catch it slipping behind Longs and Meeker to the west.
The moon really is a marvel. It also is the subject of this week’s cover story by Tamara Chuang — or, more correctly, a Lockheed Martin mission to survey the frigid poles of the moon where water of some sort is lurking. Maybe we will live there some day? Or maybe we will just keep reveling in its beauty.
Littleton. Lockheed. Lunar trailblazing.
As a business reporter, sometimes my head gets so stuck in making sense of economic data that I forget to look up. But when I do, I see how much I’ve missed.
You’d think the moon would be hard to miss. But it’s the undiscovered parts that aren’t really in consumer consciousness: There’s water on the moon, but can we drink it?
A visit to Lockheed Martin’s Waterton campus in Littleton last month had me within inches of one of the next satellites to launch into space (as early as Wednesday), head to lunar orbit and gather higher-resolution images of areas water is believed to exist on the moon.
The Lunar Trailblazer mission will help inform upcoming NASA Artemis missions — the ones sending humans back to the moon. But it’s not just for a touchdown and taking a few steps, but for an extended period of habitation.
As access to space gets more affordable, at least relatively, the explorers are going to need shelter, vehicles, drills, better communication and even a fueling station. Those projects, as I discovered, all have Colorado connections. There are so many aerospace companies and employees in Colorado that the state is No. 1 per capita for aerospace employment, according to the state’s economic development office.
Who knew? Well, if you read the story, now you will, too. So, don’t forget to look up — and out.
READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE
We’re asked to get in line, a lot. Here are a few of our favorite images from the week where people lined up for so many reasons.
Blue tea magic with your Thai meal
Tucked out of the way in an unmemorable business complex in southwestern Longmont where one can buy insurance or get teeth cleaned or taxes prepared was a shockingly memorable dining experience.
My family and I ventured into Anchan Thai since it was near our hotel and not a chain. Our stomachs — and eyes — were focused on dessert. But then we spotted a hot pot of anchan tea, the famously blue Thai tea used to color sticky rice desserts we enjoy so much. It’s often referred to as butterfly pea flower or blue pea tea.
A little bland on its own, but squeeze in some fresh lime juice — supplied by the restaurant — and it turns into a transformative treat. Literally. Somehow, the sour citrus sweetens the blue tea and turns it into a vibrant purple brew. There are anthocyanins, or natural pigments, in the tea that react to the lime’s pH to cause the tea to change color in front of your eyes.
The other treat was we were the last customers of the night and met Chef Patchara “Annie” Beck, who is from Thailand. She said the anchan flowers grow wild in her hometown in the region of Loei. She has relatives send her batches of dried flowers weekly, or was it every other week? I guess I was too focused on the experience to recall some details.
She also uses the flowers to add a hint of blue in sticky rice and ice cream, which, of course, we feasted on as well. We ordered a few other dishes and each was an elevated experience in flavor and presentation. Magical!
Anchan Thai, 1325 Dry Creek Dr. Suite 106, Longmont
“Bluebird Seasons” explores author’s personal vantage point for climate change
EXCERPT: Longtime nature writer Mary Taylor Young kept 25 years of nature journals that spanned the childhood of her daughter and brought the landscape around their mountain home to life. She figured one day they’d contribute to a nice memoir of joy and renewal. But when she took a closer look, and saw the subtle changes occurring over the years, the narrative veered into climate change territory.
THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Through the power of storytelling, Young expresses a message of hope —because otherwise, she figures, what’s the point of writing the book? Here’s a sample from her Q&A:
SunLit: What’s the most important thing — a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers should take from this book?
Young: That the climate crisis isn’t some vague thing happening in far-off places like Antarctica and south Asian rainforests. It is happening right here, right now in our own backyards and special wild places. It is affecting us and our state right now and the dire impacts to our world and daily lives will only grow. And that it is up to us to push for change because those with power and wealth are not going to do it.
READ THE INTERVIEW WITH MARY TAYLOR YOUNG
A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.
🌞 In a process that concluded long before the purge of Inspectors General, federal auditors found that Colorado authorized 220,000 Medicaid payments for the treatment of people who were dead and asked for the money back. State Medicaid program administrators told Jennifer Brown and John Ingold they dispute the findings and will not return the more than $6 million the feds say they are owed.
🌞 In other Medicaid news, state budgeters are having a hard time getting a handle on how much the program will cost in Colorado. The latest estimate has pushed the state’s overall budget shortfall to $1.2 billion, Brian Eason reports.
🌞 In other statehouse news, lawmakers are taking another run at reforming RTD and Colorado’s construction defects laws, Boulder County state Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis resigned just as an ethics complaint against her was about to be heard and a ballot measure that would end gray wolf reintroduction is cleared to collect signatures — nevermind that the translocation work likely will be done about the same time in 2026 the measure gets a vote.
🌞 The Aurora apartment building made notorious by President Donald Trump on the campaign trail was cleared of residents and boarded up last week. Jennifer Brown reports on the work that was done to safely relocate the few remaining tenants, mostly people newly arrived in the U.S., from the dilapidated building known as The Edge. She also reported on a new executive order that stripped about 160 immigrant kids, some as young as 2, of legal representation in immigration court in Colorado, and then reported again when the order was rescinded Friday.
🌞 A more robust power grid has been on a lot of our minds with the surge in technologies, like artificial intelligence, that gobble up tons of electricity as they do their work. To build a better grid will take building more powerlines and Parker Yamasaki caught up with farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado and eastern New Mexico who are worried that a 600-mile route for a new power connection will cost them their land.
🌞 Evidence of mass firings of so-called probationary workers is surfacing quickly in Colorado, particularly in agencies that manage the 24 million acres of public lands in Colorado. Jason Blevins reports on how these job losses could ripple across the economy. In related reporting, Olivia Prentzel took a look at a federal hiring freeze that has Coloradans very worried about whether the state will be ready when the next wildland fire starts.
🌞 Some decent news: The King Soopers strike is paused for 100 days. Tamara Chuang reports on what got the two sides back to the negotiating table.
🌞 And a charming photo story about Cranor Hill, the city of Gunnison ski hill where lots of families and start-up skiers get their turns for cheap. Dean Krakel visited the one-lift, three run mountain, which closes March 2.
Thanks for spending time with us this morning, friends. We appreciate your attention now more than ever. We’ll see you back here next week. (If you want to bring a pal, please direct them to coloradosun.com/join!)
— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun
Corrections & Clarifications
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